Welcome to the first blog post I’ll be posting on this website! This is where all things exercise, fitness, martial arts, and more will be posted and written by me! My writing style is what I like to call “fluid chaotic” (you’ll see what I mean as we go). Something I do very often is go on tangents that usually fit in well with the topic, but sometimes can be a bit odd until I tie it all in at the end, which I will (almost) always do!
Without further adieu… Here is the very first one. And we are talking all about TIME!
“Now just isn’t a good time”. “I’m too busy”. “I have too much stuff going on right now”.
Have you heard yourself mutter these phrases before? Has that little voice in your head whispered these to you when you’ve been on the verge of making a grand decision? If you’re like most humans on this planet, then I’m sure you have. One of the most difficult parts of fitting fitness into your daily routine is finding the TIME.
In order to survive in this world I’m sure you have to work at least one full-time job (sometimes two or three), go to school, have children who you care for, a relationship you spend time cultivating, a pet you must take time to keep alive and give all the love in the world to, AND on top of all of that, a social life plus some hobbies! It is extremely difficult to manage time. I completely understand, and I totally relate.
Now let’s say you have the goal of fitting exercise into your wild day-to-day routine, to enhance your health, better your mental health, build strong bones, gain a new skill, or a plethora of other reasons! How can we make that happen if there’s no TIME?!
Let’s figure it out together. In the next few paragraphs I’ll be asking you a few questions that will help you get to the bottom of exactly HOW you could possibly add a fitness routine into your daily life. Your only job is to be EXTREMELY and BRUTALLY honest with yourself when answering them.
Ready? Great. Here we go!
First of all, you have decided to fit a workout routine into your schedule for a reason. First thing I want you to do is figure out the reason for that.
Here are some examples from my clients for why they wanted to do this in the first place:
-To get in shape for my wedding.
-To combat health concerns and live healthily as long as I can so I can see my children grow up.
-I need help with my mental health, and exercise has been really beneficial.
-I feel awful at the weight I’m at, I don’t want to feel this way anymore.
-My confidence plummeted after my breakup, and now I want to build the body of my dreams to build it back up.
-I want to learn new skill, and prove to myself that I can do push-ups and pull-ups!
-I want to increase my muscular endurance for martial arts, to become a better fighter.
There are MANY more fantastic reasons to add fitness into your lifestyle, and I’m sure yours is super individualized and entirely unique to you! And I’m sure it’s something that’s always in the back of your mind, and just hasn’t been acted upon yet. Or maybe you started, but just can’t get yourself to keep going. BUT you have the goal and reason behind it, and that’s exciting!!
At this point most people feel super motivated and excited to get into a routine! But wait… How do I fit this in? I don’t have enough TIME!!
Do you actually not have enough time? Let’s navigate this obstacle together.
First, let’s say you fall into the category of being a “seasonally” busy person. It’s the holidays, there are birthdays, tons of work events, etc. So at this moment, you’re “too busy”. BUT! In the future when you aren’t as busy, you plan on getting started with your fitness goals, right?
“Right!” you say!
So answer this for me, if you are busy now during this season of your life, then does that mean you assume in order to be successful, you can’t be busy?
“Well..no.”
Are there extremely busy people in this world that have reached incredible fitness success?
“Yes.” And you can be one of them.
Another important thing to realize is that you WILL be busy again in the future. Seasons and birthdays come around every year, work gets busy, and crazy life events happen. In reality, NOW, while you’re busy, is the absolute BEST time to get started with fitness. And an even BETTER time to get started with a trainer. That way during the busiest season of your life you have guidance from someone who can help you through, and give you the tools you need so next time you get busy again (which will inevitably happen) you know exactly how to manage it while keeping your fitness and goals steady.
Don’t let yourself lose your progress because of the sorry excuse that you’re “too busy right now”; you’re too valuable and important for that. Get with a trainer, explain your schedule, and you can make it work together.
Next, let’s say maybe your entire DAY is busy, and hour by hour you’re constantly feeling like you’re rushing around and that there’s no possible time to fit a workout in. Let’s talk through this next!
I have a magic trick for you. We are going to create time.
If you have an IPhone (I’m sure you can do this on other phones as well), look and see how much time you spend on social media, Netflix, streaming apps, etc. per day. I can almost guarantee, especially in this day and age, that you spend at least a few hours scrolling social media.
TADA! We just found you a few hours that you can get a workout in!
If your hour by hour day truly is extremely busy, then get with your trainer and ask for some at-home workouts. THEN, when you normally scroll through social media or throw on Netflix, get into your workout clothes and bust out a quick workout. That is the first, most manageable, and most important step in getting you to your goals. Start with one time a week, then as you start to enjoy it and discover you too can pull time out of thin air, you can add on.
Small steps are the key to keeping consistency! Big steps tend to fail once people get overwhelmed. So, don’t overwhelm yourself, start slow, and remember how all of these little steps in the right direction will get you much further down the road. And you want this to last, right? Then take those baby steps!
If at this point you still don’t feel like you have enough time, then I’d like you to ask yourself: Do you think there is anyone else on Earth with less time than you making this happen?
Absolutely.
Everyone is given the same 24 hours in a day. What changes is how you use it.
If you’re STILL unsure about whether you have time, and you spend a good deal on social media, then ask yourself; is this really a time issue, or a priority issue? Maybe fitness and health isn’t important enough to you for you to see the value in spending time devoted to your happiness and longevity.
THAT is a different post, however!
I hope this has allowed you to open your eyes to the possibilities you have with finding time in your day. To summarize, if you feel like you don’t have time “right now” then right now is the EXACT time you need to get started; that way you can gain the tools, accountability, guidance, and support from a trainer so that you’ll be able to reach your goals whether you’re busy or not. Check how much time you spend doing mindless activities on your phone, and voila, we found you a few hours to fit in a workout! Remember, every single person gets the same 24 hours in their day. Use them wisely, and you too can get to your goals.
That one small decision to start getting a short, quick workout into your busy day could be the best decision you’ve ever made. You may look back on that decision, with the body of your dreams, your goals within reach, and a newfound respect and love for yourself and be SO damn grateful for having taken that step.
Next week we will be talking about a totally different topic when it comes to training, so stay tuned!
To those of you that have made it this far, and have begun to rethink TIME for training, I applaud you.
If you believe my style of training and guiding would be a good fit, I would love to get to know you and see if I can help guide you towards your goals, any way I can!
Until next time!
Go make some time!
-Taylor